Over 400,000 people, from Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado have been displaced due to a three-year conflict. After fleeing violence from ongoing attacks by armed groups, the displaced people now face serious health risks and inadequate living conditions.
Approximately 10,000 displaced people arrived by boat to the provincial capital of Pemba last week alone. “They were dehydrated. Women gave birth at sea. There have been cases of severe, potentially fatal, diarrhoea. There’s a lot of pressure on local medical staff, as 20,000 people have arrived throughout the last month and more will continue to come.”
Approximately 100,000 internally displaced people have sought refuge in and around Pemba in temporary shelter sites, such as school buildings, or with host families, increasing the city’s population by a third. Many displaced lack clean drinking water and are exposed to malaria with barely any protection, while they remain in unsanitary, crowded conditions, increasing the risk of an outbreak of measles, diarrhoea, or COVID-19.
With no end in sight, the fighting that started in October 2017 has continued to increase in intensity. It has forced almost a fifth of the province’s people to leave their homes and reduced access to care and other services in the area to almost nothing.
These are the recorded incidents and information, but we believe there could be even more numbers and worse situations happening right now. We need prayers and every support possible.